Brutal Honesty – dance and language improvisation practice ONLINE

Brutal Honesty is a dance and language improvisation practice developed by award-winning choreographer Zornitsa Stoyanova. The practice has a goal of not censoring oneself in movement and the language, stories, emotions, and bullshit that comes up while in it. Initially inspired by the global “pandemic” of alternative facts, Brutal Honesty questions what is honest, real, and truthful. This improvisation dance and language research interrogates our personal connection to the idea of truth.

The generation of language and movement initiates from the sensual body, our memories, feelings, and the here and now.

Within this practice, Stoyanova works with repetitions, derailed desire, the form of the confessional, the highly emotional, and the vulnerable.

Join Zornitsa Stoyanova in this online movement workshop in language and movement practice unearthing the notion of personal truths and what it means to be honest, with yourself and others.

Feb. 23rd – Brutal Honesty workshop

• focusing on Brutal Honesty through the form of the confessional and derailed desire.

Feb. 25th – Brutal Honesty workshop

• working with repetition as a way to bring the emotional and the vulnerable within the practice of Brutal Honesty.

COST:

💳7 to 25 EURO per class sliding scale – or pay what you wish💳

Use the registration link below, or alternatively, you can PayPal directly to bodymelddance@gmail.com or Venmo at @zstoy.

Wondering how to determine what to pay? Here is a useful infographic.

Any questions you can contact Zornitsa Stoyanova directly at zornitsa@bodymeld.org

Brutal Honesty workshop is part of Zornitsa’s research for her new performance by the same name to premiere late in 2022.

Zornitsa Stoyanova writes about her history with dance and improvisation:

Over twenty-plus years, I’ve studied contact, compositional and emergent improvisation with teachers from all over the world.
My work and research focus on improvisation for performance. I always approach the compositional and improvisational techniques with an eye toward to presence of the dancer. I focus on methodologies to make my performance alive and in the NOW.

I’ve been using gesture and speech in my choreography for over 15 years, developing a specific methodology of listening to the senses that bring language forth. Brutal Honesty has been in development for almost two years now, researching a new movement practice that will become the building block of new choreographic work.

When I teach…

Other noteworthy teachers of mine are Ishamael Houston Jones, Janine Durning, Danny Lepkoff, Nancy Stark Smith, Susan Rethorst, and many others. From 2005 to 2008, I worked with the Emergent Improvisation Project, researching new forms of improvisation borrowed from biology and neuroscience. Dancing in this project, I was on the cover of the book Composing While Dancing by M. Buckwalter. With Graffito Works (2015 – 2017), again an improvisation company, I danced in various museum and art collections outside the theater. In 2021, I initiated the beginning of PIC – Platform for Improvisation and Composition in Sofia, Bulgaria. I have also danced for Eiko & Koma, Boris Charmatz, Cie. Willy Dorner, Lionel Popkin, and many other less-known names. For me, dance improvisation is an opportunity to reveal the true nature of life, the dancer their psyche, and the reason to be on stage at this moment.